


Volatile Times

by chloefrazerr



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Mild Gore, PTSD, Pre-Game Events, Romance, So much angst, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-23 16:01:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4883038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloefrazerr/pseuds/chloefrazerr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her grandfather always told her that the stories and legends of the Cree were true and she didn't believe him. Why would she? Looking back, she desperately wished she had, maybe the horrors of those two dreadful nights could have been prevented. Maybe she could have had more time with her friends and the girl that she'd fallen for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

Narrowed brown eyes glared at the group of six huddled around each other near the fireplace. Her jaw ticked in irritation as all of them let out a rather ugly howl of laughter, the blonde girl of the group seemingly pleased with herself. In turn it only made the dark brunette girl scowl deeper. 

Jayden  
Washington Lodge  
1:47

 

Whatever the bunch of the were up to, it wasn't going to end well at all. Especially if Jessica was in charge of the operation and even more so if Emily was being quite enthusiastic about it. And she knew that when Emily was showing more than five minutes of positive emotion in front of the group was saying a lot about this whole scheme. Jayden only hoped that this plan didn't involve Hannah, the poor girl. The amount of times she'd have to scold Emily at home about treating Hannah harshly was unbelievable, Jayden was supposed to be her best friend, not her goddamn mother. 

It wasn't Hannah's fault that she had a crush on Mike. Hell, nearly half of their old school did, Hannah wasn't any different. If she was being one hundred percent sure, Jessica was the very same, she was just better at hiding it. Instead of dwelling on it the group's internal drama, her eyes flickered towards the two idiots almost passed out on the kitchen counter. 

Josh and Chris were leaning quite closely together, noses nearly brushing against each other and lips moving in hushed words. She only rolled her eyes at this. These two had been dancing around their feelings for each other for years now. It quite frustrating in all honesty. Beth, being the matchmaker of the group, had been pushing the pair about it but being 'the bros' they were, they'd ultimately protested. Yet the same could be said for... 

"Jay!" Her heart raced as the petite blonde girl came into Jayden's line of vision, that adorable smile that she'd all but fallen for gracing her face. 

"Hey, Sammy," She tried to remain as casual as possible, even though heat was rushing across her face but luckily it wasn’t visible for Sam to see. A tiny smile worming its way onto her face. Sam stood a few feet away from Jayden, peering at her with some sort of glint in her green eyes. Jayden fidgeted in her spot, her heart beating like crazy, she was sure that it was going to burst out of her chest. Deciding that she didn't want to get a heart attack, Jayden turned to the side, reaching over to grab one of the only unopened cider bottles left. 

"You want one?" She offered, the left side of her lip quirking up as Sam's nose scrunched up in a rather cute way.

"Ugh, it amazes me how you're able to drink that shit," Jayden shrugged her shoulders, cracking the bottle open as Sam came to situated herself at Jayden's side. Small butterflies fluttered in her stomach when Sam brushed up against her, the two almost pressed against each other. 

"Shit? Girl, this is the best damn thing in the world! It's got a fruity taste to it, thought all you vegetarians like that shit," Sam pinched Jayden in the side, right when that latter had decided to take a swig of her drink. She choked on her drink instantly, some of the cider travelling towards her nose. A snort, followed by a chuckle came from beside her, causing Jayden to mock glower at the girl beside her, her lips pressing together.

"Samantha!" The use of her full name only seemed to make Sam chuckle even more. 

The darker haired girl placed her unfinished beer on the counter, wiping the liquid that had dribbled out of her chin with the sleeve of her jumper. An idea popped into her head, her lopsided grin growing on her face. This caused Sam to cease her giggles, her face morphing into one of faux worry. 

"Oh no, I know that look," Jayden took a step towards her, Sam instantly taking a step backwards. 

She wiggled her fingers, arms extending so that they could reach her. There was a brief pause where the two of them halted in their tracks and Sam's eyes flickered from Jayden's hand to her face. Like that, Sam turned on her heel and Jayden knew that she was planning to run away. Hopefully, she did so slowly, not everyone was a fitness champ like her. Gym left a bad taste in Jayden's mouth, it was her worst subject at school. 

Despite her dislike for gym, Jayden chased after her friend, a gleeful feeling spreading through her body. However, the was short lived as Sam crashed into somebody as she ran. Luckily, Jayden had been able to keep up with time, so she caught the tumbling blonde girl. Both of Jayden's hands had secured themselves on Sam's waist, keeping her in place so that she didn't nearly fall over again. Even though Sam was steady, her hands remained where they were, unable to help herself. 

"Jay, I'm okay," Sam's pink tinged face glanced up at the taller girl, whom just mistook her sheepish expression as embarrassment over smacking into someone. Jayden went to question her words but another voice beat her too it. 

"We haven't got all day lovebirds," Emily's vexed but amused tone made Jayden jumped away from Sam, coming to stand quite the distance away. 

Her eyes travelled to Mike's quite smug face, to which her joyfulness turn sour. Her feelings must have been clearly etched onto her face as Mike rolled his eyes before falling on his girlfriend, whom was the only reason she tolerated the dickhead. He knew about her 'thing' for Sam and constantly took the piss out of her because of it. Calling Jayden by her Cree name didn't help either. 

"Anyways," Emily's increasingly exciting voice drew Jayden's attention away from Mike, yet the disillusioned mood remained. 

"Jess' come up with a prank and I want you two to be apart of it," Jayden crossed her arms over her chest, peering at the girl before her with an unimpressed expression. 

"This, uh, prank wouldn't happen to involve Hannah, would it?" Sam wondered, clearly sharing the same emotions that Jayden had.

"Duh," Emily uttered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Letting out a deep and exasperated sigh, Jayden dropped her arms, beginning to leave this whole conversation. 

"Em, I want nothing to do with this. You should know that by now," She informed Emily, not even sparing her a glance, instead she was focusing on finding her lighter. Why did she always have to buy clothes with a million and one pockets. 

"C'mon Kachina, lighten up a bit, it's just a bit of a laugh, jeez," Mike piped up for the first time, and her jaw ticked instantly. 

"Being a fucking prick to your friend doesn't sound like 'a bit of a laugh' to me, sorry Michael," She began to walk backwards as she spoke, shrugging her shoulders. 

In her sight, she witnessed Emily frown in disappointment and Sam nodded her head, obviously agreeing with her. The other three that were apart of the prank were starting to join them. Matt had a camera attached to a selfie stick in one hand, Ashley was trying her hardest to suppress her giggles and Jessica flung her arm around Emily's shoulders. 

"Ashley? Matt? Et tu?" Jayden clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she peered at them. 

Normally, Ashley and Matt were one of the 'good' guys on the group, never participating in any Hannah related pranks. Jessica must have been quite persuasive about it all. Well, she had always been very excellent at worming her way out of detention. The pair had the decency to appear a tad guilty but it was soon washed away when Jessica began leading them away, towards the stairs. 

"You gonna help me with this?" Sam glanced over to the leaving bunch in distress before falling back on Jayden. 

"They won't listen either way but you can always try," She explained tossing her silver lighter back and forth between her hands. If Emily never listened to a word before, there was still no way she was going to listen now. Besides, they would have to deal with the repercussions of their actions, not her.

"Fine," Sam began to jog towards the staircase, "Be careful out there!" She instructed, the concern she had made Jayden grin goofily. 

"I promise not to get eaten by anything!" Sam's snort of mirth was the only reply she received. 

Honestly, Jayden thought that perhaps telling everyone the old tales of this mountain was not the smartest choice she'd made. Whenever they came on the Winter Getaway, they were constantly paranoid about the things she told them. It was silly to her really. They were only stories from her Grandpa that's sole purpose was to terrorise outsiders from the Cree tribe so that they wouldn't invade their homes. 

He told her about monsters like the Misikinebik, the Stiff Jointed Bear and the Wendigo. Yet, whenever he talked about the latter, he always got a little too serious about it, though she only knew that it was for dramatic effect. On her way over the door, she kept an eye out for either of the Washington twins. 

Although she told the others that she wasn't going to get involved, she was at least going to give either one some warning beforehand. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't? 

"Beth? Hannah?" She called, unable to see them anywhere. Slipping on her black waist length coat as well as her matching gloves, she awaited a response. The seconds ticked on by and neither of twin's voices was heard. This lodge was a pretty big place, it was probably hard to hear her anyhow.

Once she secured her scarf snugly around her neck, she clasped the door knob before giving it a strong tug. The icy breeze smacked her in the face as she swung the door open. Sometimes she forgot how freezing it got on this mountain. It was a good thing Chris was here with his many layers that she'd always end up stealing. Jayden stepped out swiftly, wanting to find a release in the form of nicotine and tobacco. 

Emily and Jess' ongoing bitchiness towards Hannah stressed her out more than she realised. The snow crunched underneath her sneakers, leaving impressions in its wake. Though it wouldn't last long for the heavily falling snow would soon cover it up, like she was never there in the first place. The raging wind made the odd strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail, whip all over the place. 

She shook a cigarette out of its pack and positioned it between her teeth then wrapping her lips around them to keep it place. In one rapid movement, she ran her thumb down the lighter's spark wheel to ignite the fire needed. When there was nothing but a click and no fire, she growled at the base of her throat before trying again. 

Man, I need a new lighter. It was a shame though, the lighter was Sam's christmas present, she really didn't want to have to throw it away. After about three more times of endless clicking, a fire sparked to life, causing a contrasting glow to the gloom around her. Carefully, she lifted the lighter towards the cigarette. Once the paper of her cigarette has caught the flame, she simply stuffed the lighter back into its original place. 

Jayden inhaled the smoke from the cigarette in her mouth. The wisps of white swirled around inside her mouth, some of it traveling to her lungs speedily. She pulled the death stick out of her mouth; placing it in between her index and middle finger with smoke billowing out of her mouth. It floated up in the air before disappearing completely. After the tendrils of smoke had gone, she stuck the cigarette back into her mouth and simply left it hanging there. 

Puffs of smoke escaped her mouth, her cigarette wiggling around. As the paper turned to ash, Jayden's eyes viewed the scene before her that always seemed to leave her flabbergasted. Snow covered trees swayed around dangerously. Above the full moon was shining brightly, the stars twinkling somewhat beautifully. Despite how gorgeous she found it all, one thing was bothering her.   
And that was the feeling of being watched. 

Jayden knew that she was probably being ridiculous. Since when did she start to share her friend's paranoia of this place? Her mind was just messing with her and she knew it. Before she could divulge into her thoughts anymore, the lodge door all but slammed open, causing Jayden to raise an eyebrow. A figure zoomed past her, what sounded like... sobs erupting from them. 

"Hannah!" Came farway muffled voices from deeper inside the lodge. Then it clicked. 

"Fuck!" Without thinking twice, Jayden ran after her friend. 

Whenever Hannah was upset, she tended to do things without thinking and ended up regretting them. Running out into the forest, in the middle of the night, when there was snowstorm was probably on that list. This was all to do with that immature prank, she knew it. She really was going to give those idiots a lecture about it. 

"Hannah!" Jayden bellowed, able to see the girl's form a few metres away from her. Unfortunately, not being exactly Usain Bolt, keeping up with Hannah was quite difficult. Jayden pushed herself by pumping her arms and legs up and down a lot more rapidly, taking breaths through her mouth instead of her nose. Her technique seemed to work for Hannah was becoming more clear in the bleakness.

However, as she was shrugging her coat off so that she could give it to her friend, Jayden caught her foot under a tree root. Ungracefully, she hurtled towards the ground, dropping her coat along the way. Jayden landed on her front, her face slamming into the snow rather painfully. A white hot pain blossomed at the bridge of her nose, a sticky liquid leaking afterwards. 

With a groan, she lifted herself from the snow and onto her hands and knees. Blood poured freely out of her nose now, some of it dripping into her mouth, making her spit in it out in disgust. Fantastic, she mused.

"Jay!" A distressed call of her name, followed by a pair of hands helping her up brought her back into the current events. 

"Hannah?" She wondered as her helper positioned her back onto two feet. 

"No, it's Beth," the beanie wearing twin came into her line of vision, every pore in her face showing clear anxiety over the situation.   
"Have you seen her? Jay, please, tell me-," The older of the two girls pressed a reassuring hand to Beth's shoulder. 

"Beth, listen to me. I saw her go left a few seconds ago. She's fine, she'll get tired soon. You'll catch up with her in no time, okay?" Beth nodded her head with every word, her face morphing into one of relief. 

"Thanks Jay," She gave her friend a tilt of the head and a pat on the arm. No more words were uttered for Beth hurriedly twisted on her heel, jogging off into the direction that Hannah had gone. Jayden grimaced as the blood continuously pumped out of her nostrils. 

"Fuck me! Son of a bitch!" She exclaimed rather loudly as she touched the epicentre of her pain. Must of hit a rock or something. With extreme gentleness, she pinch her nose in hope that she could suppress the bleeding. After doing so, she made her way right, where the twins had disappeared to, wanting to make sure the that the pair of them were alright. 

Unexpectedly, a screech that was unlike anything she'd ever heard in her life emitted from the trees to her left. It chilled her to the bone, dread beginning to cling onto her exposed skin. Whatever made that noise definitely wasn't human nor something she would want to cross paths with. 

"What the..." The noise came again, this time closer to her than it had been before. 

There was a rustle in the trees from behind her, which made her come to a standstill. She knew it came out of the woods for there were footsteps padding in the snow. Every part of her was trembling viciously as she glanced behind her. What she was staring at made the dread come back at full force. It screeched at her, obviously being able to see her now. Not being able to be told twice, she simply sprinted to the left side if the trail, making sure whatever that best was didn't get to Beth and Hannah. 

It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before and quite frankly something she never wanted to have to see it again. The monster was hot on her heels, so she pushed herself as best as she could but her breathing was becoming more laboured and unsteady. Her muscles protest at the speed she was moving at, unused to this kind of strain. The adrenaline had mostly been drained after using it to chase after Hannah earlier one. This was all ultimately her downfall for she felt something tear her back. 

Jayden let out a cry of agony when - what she assumed to be - the creature's claws slice the length of her back. Tears leaked out of her vision, a mixture of pain and terror within them. She honestly felt like she was in a surreal nightmare that she was unable to wake up from. Blood coated her back, some of it flowing into the snow in small but rapid droplets. A wave of dizziness overcame her, bile rising to up her throat, unable to move. In her dazed mind, she knew that in this moment, she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. 

There wasn't even time to think about her life flashing before her eyes for its hand curled around her shoulder, nails piercing all the way through her skin and coming out of her shoulder blade. With inhuman strength it lifted her off the ground, causing masses amount of affliction is bloom across the top half of her body. “Please! Please!” She begged between a sob, the monster making them come face to face. The milky white eyes only stared at her with murderous intention. Through half lidded eyes, Jayden saw it raise its free hand, building up strength to come back down for the killing blow. Knowing that there was no way out of this situation, she simply let her eyes flutter closed, praying to someone out there that it would be quick. 

The next thing she knew, the monster released its grip on her and threw her away. Instantly, her eyes flew open to see fire attacking the monster at full force before the monster scrambled away from the flames. Before Jayden had the time to comprehend what the hell just happened, she slammed into the ground, her whole world going black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Trauma

A chilly mushy substance fell onto her face, the iciness seeped into her skin, causing her eyes to fluttered open.

**Jayden**

**Abandoned Construction Mine Site**

**13:38**

Blinking blearily, she saw a wooden roof above her, a fairly large hole on the right side. The light snow floated through the cracks and splinters, the light of the sun shining through. Jayden frowned, her mind hazy and her emotions perplexed as to why she was staring up at a low broken roof.

As she attempted to move, a searing pain washed over every inch of her body. She let out a whimper, resuming her position from before. Her back and her left shoulder felt like they'd been cut off and lamely reattached afterwards. There was no feeling in her fingers, legs and her entire left arm, everything was just numb.

The only part of her that seemed to be working was her face but even that felt a slightly bit sore. How did she even end up to be in this state? For the next few minutes, Jayden let her eyes wander the area around her.

She seemed to be in some kind of work place with a sign reading  **'** ** _ELEVATOR'_** to her left and various dangerously sharp tools to her right. In front of her, she could make out several mining carts filled to the brim with forgotten coal.

A squawk erupting from the roof jarred Jayden out of her exploration, terrifying the damaged skin off of her. It was then when the events of before came flooding back.

The prank. Going after Hannah. Tripping. Beth. Being chased. Nails dragging across skin. Shoulder pierced through. That creature.  _That creature_.

All of her thoughts were too much to take in at once and her breathing was becoming more laboured, more rapid. If she didn't calm down soon, her injuries scattered across her body would turn steadily worse, yet she couldn't help it. With eyes flickering around speedily, questions filled her mind, plaguing her.

What happened back at the lodge? Was that monster even real? Were Hannah and Beth alright? Did the creature manage to get to them? Did it manage to get back to the lodge? Did it kill anyone? Where did those flames come from? How far did that creature throw her?

The screech from the roof came again, panic surging through her instantly. While it didn't sound like the noise the thing that attacked her made, she could never be too sure. For all she knew there were more and they managed to find her again. After that train of thought, Jayden assumed that they were here to finish her off. But this time, she wasn't going to give up so easily.

Despite the stabbing feeling flaring across the upper length of her body, she used all her right arm strength to lift the top half of her body up. Rather disgustingly, she could feel her flabby, sliced skin unpeel from the floor. Bile immediately rose up her throat, knowing that it would appear as revolting as it had felt. And she never wants to have to feel that again.

Jayden ushered the bile away for now, there were far more important things to do than be sick. Somehow, she was able to maintain her stability of keeping her upper half upright. With keen eyes, she glanced around to find some leverage to help her stand properly. One idea was to grab the support beams holding the half broken workplace roof up. The second was to use the minecarts, which were far closer.

She opted for the minecarts. Plus they meant that she had better access to the door. There was no way in hell she was going to take the elevator route. This place seemed ancient. An extremely rusted contraption practically screamed death in her eyes.

Carefully, she attempted to maneuver herself to have her front facing the floor and that both arms were able to drag her over to the minecarts. About halfway through the process, a yell of agony passed her lips, all the strain making her wounds open. Jayden felt part of her back lacerations spilt, even more blood trickling out of it.

"Fuck! Come on!" She encouraged herself with a raspy, deep voice.

Ignoring the bleeding, she swung her body around, moving into the position that she wanted from the start. She pushed all of her half dead body weight forward with her flattened bloodied hands. Along the way, she bit her lip, foolishly hoping that she could direct all the pain she was experiencing there. Her poor lip would probably explode because of it.

If she was being honest with herself, she didn't quite understand why she was stressing herself to stay alive. Giving her the opportunity a few years ago, she would have gladly have bled out on the floor. What made the situation now any different?

Images of her friends flashed in her mind, whom were all like family more than anything. Sure, Mike, Jess and sometimes Ashley weren't her favourite people in the world but she would still do anything for them through and through. They were still people she cared about.

Besides, she hadn't told Sam how she felt yet and she sure as hell wasn't going to let that slip away. Finally, she'd managed to reach to the minecart, a hand stretching to grasp the handle above.

A low whine settled at the base of her throat as she began to heft herself back onto her feet. Her weak arms quivers, unable to deal with the pressure of she was putting them through. Yet, she just pushed herself, for all she knew the monster was watching her mockingly, waiting for her to crumble back down to the floor so that it could attack.

No, she wasn't going to do that. Jayden let out a breath that was a mixture of a laugh and a sigh of relief as she came to stand back on her own two legs. Even though they were quaking like mad and her ankle was throbbing, all that mattered was that she'd done it. However, she didn't have that much time to celebrate for another screech came again, this time much closer than before.

She let go of the handle, almost falling over if not her flight instinct asserting into place. As speedily as she could, she limped over to the workbench near the door, intending to pick up something to defend herself with. Once she collected a crowbar, she made her way over to the door.

Jayden could feel the blood oozing from her back dripping into her pants as well as leaving a trail on the floor. At least her shoulder wound hadn't started to bleed as well. There would no way she could move the distance she had travelled at if it had.

Using her weapon, she shoved the door open, fortunately finding it unlocked. Instead of taking a moment to have a breath in the fresh air, she hobbled away from the shed trying to find an escape route. To her left was an tall rickety building, that seemingly led to higher land which could possibly mean there was a trail back to the lodge. On the right was a line of railway tracks, the rest of the track leading to a threatening cave.

She chose to go left, which to her seemed far safer than whatever was beyond the tunnel entrance. There were far too many horror movies about people wandering into caves and getting lost forever.

The icy breeze ruffled her hair, some pieces that were stuck to her face stripping off. It was the only thing keeping managing to keep her away and felt somewhat soothing against her damaged body. Reaching the doorway of the decaying wooden building, a sign in block letters read

**'** **_UNSAFE. DO NOT ENTER'_ **

She ignored the words completely, there was no way in hell she was going turn round back to where the monster could harm her again. Come to think of it, it hadn't made any sort of noise in a while. And it wasn't something she was glad about. From what her Grandpa had told her about Wen-

No.

That wasn't what she saw, that was just her brain talking, trying to find an explanation as to what that thing was. Legends and stories weren't real, everyone knew that. Yet it didn't make the thought leave her mind. It buzzed around in her mind like a fly, never settling.

For now, her sole focus was on climbing these creaking stairs. Her thoughts must have diverted her away from the pain in her body as well as the strain of travelling up the stairs. She managed to get quite far because the light leading back outside was only five steps away.

Jayden's grip on the stair handle tightened, willing all her body weight forward. Pride spread through her as she reached the top of the stairs, extremely amazed at herself for getting this far.

However, that soon disappeared when she saw the next obstacle she had to complete. In front of her was a massive gap to get back onto the trail.

"Fuck!" She bellowed, frustration worming its way into her system. There was no way that this wouldn't wound her even more. Well, she supposed that it was either this or going back the way she came.

She knew which one she preferred.

First things first, Jayden threw her crowbar to the other side with her 'good' arm. Thankfully, it landed far away from her position having no risk of falling off the edge. After that, she began to take several steps backwards, thinking that she would be more successful if she took a sprinting jump.

She was actually taking Mike's advice for a change. Funny what near death experiences does to a person.

As she arrived at the top of the stairs, she willed her breathing to slow down and her form to cease in shaking. All her focus needed to be on making this leap.

Without wasting anymore time, she went for it. Jayden bolted as fast as her ankle would let her, taking lengthy strides. At her fourth step, she vaulted into the air, everything in her mind slowing down. While she was gliding in the air that Jayden realised she had no idea how to land.

Her landing was ultimately the worst as she slammed into the wood on her side, knocking her head too. Everything turned fuzzy in her vision; the sounds of bells ringing in her ears in such a high pitch it made her cringe.

That all occurred briefly for her senses cleared up. A wave of torment washed over her, nearly making her drown. A howl of anguish and ire tumbling out of her mouth, allowing her to come back to the freezing and bitter surface.

Truth be told, she was just utterly vexed about the whole situation. It was as though as she was in a never ending nightmare that was on a constant loop. She just wanted to go home, back to where she'd grown up with Emily. Back to where everything was what managed to keep her sane every day.

Tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to make tracks down her dirted cheeks. One droplet wormed its way out, splashing onto the snow as she brought herself to her hands and knees. If she didn't think that her injuries could get any worse, they did.

Blood mixed with the salty tears, staining the snow below her. The blood leaking out of body was beginning to make her feel slightly woozy yet there was nothing she could do to stop it. Before she could find a solution in bandaging her wounds, she needed to get a move on, there was no use in sobbing pathetically.

Without any form of support, Jayden clambered back onto her feet, grabbing the crowbar that lay beside her. At first, she swayed, vision blurring into one big blob of white. Jayden squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to get her sight working again.

It had an effect for when she opened her eyes again, everything became clearer again. Well, discounting the black spots flickering from place to place. Ambling forwards, Jayden thought a temporary towel to press against her lacerations.

While her back wasn't as terrible as it had been before, her shoulder was losing the most blood. Her eyes peered down at her tattered vest top, the bottom half about to tear off. With no scarf or her coat to help her, it was all she had at the moment.

In one swift movement, she ripped it off, her midriff presented to the nippy breeze. She bundled the piece of cloth up into a small ball before raising her right hand towards her shoulder. As she pressed down on the puncture, a hiss passed her lips, ache blooming across that part.

Jayden bit down on her lip, hard. If she didn't managed to find someone soon, she wasn't going to last fifteen more minutes. It was either the blood loss or the snow that was going to end up killing her, which was not the way she wanted to go out.

If she was making any last requests, she wanted to go out in style, blazing. Not buried under ice, weak and defenseless. Ahead of her was a ledge substantial enough for her to shimmy across to the other side.

There was no way she was going to even attempt to jump the rocks that jutted out hazardly from the ground. Not wanting to plummet to her death, Jayden placed a shaky foot on the edge, her other foot soon joining as well.

Carefully, she shuffled against the rock, keeping constant pressure on her shoulder. She was off sooner than she'd imagined, releasing a breath she didn't realise she had been holding.

As she continued on her path once more, the sounds of rushing water fall meeting her ears. Her lips quirking up over the fact that something was actually going her way for a change.

Water meant a river and a river meant that she could clean herself up a bit. Plus it meant that she could wipe all the caked blood away, making her feel far more refreshed and more likely to be able to keep up her trek.

Just then, the river came into view. To her it appeared to be the most beautiful thing she'd seen in all her life. Licking her parched lips, she picked up the pace.

However, the moment she reached the river, a variety of booming noises erupted from the forest to her left. Her head snapped in the direction, her heart thumping at a million miles an hour.

Without thinking, she rushed over to the wide tree closest to her, dropping her makeshift bandage.

How could she be so foolish? How could she allow herself to let her guard down when she knew that the threat could leap and murder her in any second. Stupid, that's what she was, allowing herself a moment was reckless.

The remaining adrenaline she know she had left pumped through her system, all her senses on high alert.

There were several footfalls stamping across the snow in her direction, followed by the low murmur of voices.

Her mind went into haywire mode. There must be a whole pack of them, that was the only explanation she could think of right now. How had her and her friends never encountered them before? Were they just lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike? Or was there more to this than she didn't understand?

The cracking of a twig from beside her brought her back to the present. If they'd already found her, she wasn't going out without a fight.

Jayden clutched her crowbar, knuckles white as she stepped out from behind cover, not even studying the creature closer. Remembering the swinging technique Hannah had shown her, she whacked whatever was in front of her in the stomach.

The beast stumbled back, a soft grunt emitting from them. She went to raise her crowbar again, fully intending to cause more harm.

"Jay!"

* * *

Green eyes followed her friend as he ambled down the stairs, a disheartened expression etched onto his normally smiley, friendly face.

**Sam**

**Guest Cabin**

**13:58**

"Any luck?" Even though she already knew that answer to her dumb question, she still wanted to be absolutely sure.

"No, I checked everywhere. I'm sorry, Sam," Matt gave her an apologetic glance, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"But we'll find them, okay?" He patted her in reassurance, making her feel a tad better but not completely.

"Okay," She gave him a small smile, her lips only twitching slightly. When he turned away, planning to get a move on her faux high spirits disappearing.

Three days. It had been three days since Hannah, Jayden and Beth had gone missing into the Blackwood Pines, no trace of them in sight. With every second it only became worse for everyone. Emily, Mike and Jessica were all arguing with each other, trying to place who was more at fault with each other.

Ashley had been taken home by her parents this morning and despite her friend's protest about having doing so, Sam could tell that she was more than relieved. That only made Josh more bitter about the situation.

At the moment, he was only talking to Chris, ignoring everyone else completely. Even though she understood why he wasn't talking to her, it didn't hurt any less.

She only wished that he let her in, she was Hannah's best friend and if not one of the closest friend to the Washington family after all. At least she hadn't participated in the prank, she was one of the only people who attempted to stop it, especially after what she knew what the prank was going to be about.

Sometimes she wondered how she allowed herself to remain friends with the majority of them. They had their fair share of giggles but most of the time, Sam felt that the connection just wasn't quite there. She supposed that she tolerated them for Hannah and Jayden's sake more than anything.

Sam pursed her lips in deep thought, thinking about the latter person. When Hannah and Beth left the safety of the lodge, Sam assumed that Jayden was still going out for a smoke, going to be back a little while later.

However, when she hadn't return like the twins had, Sam was beginning to fear the worst. It was then when Mike had found her lighter tossed out in the snow that she truly did start to panic. They all knew that their friend had only gone and chased after Hannah, putting herself at risk.

Sam reached into her coat pocket, grasping the lighter before pulling it out of her pocket. As her eyes peered at the engraving etched onto the silver, her throat closed up her, making it hard for her to swallow. When, not if, when they found Jayden, Sam was going to give her the best kiss of her life, regardless of the consequences that would surely follow.

There was no way that she wasn't going to, Sam had fallen hard and there was no escaping it. When they found Beth and Hannah she was never going to let them out of her sight again. If she lost all three of them, she didn't think she would be able to cope. In fact, she didn't think anyone in the group would, unquestionably so for Emily and Josh.

A shriek of rage was produced from her left, causing the pair to halt in their movement. Birds flapped out of the treeline, obviously as startled by the sound as they were.

"What the fuck?" Matt muttered her thoughts, coming to stand closer to Sam. Stuffing the lighter back into her pocket, her focus turning to her friend.

"Do you think…?" She trailed off her words, suggesting to him that the noise could have been caused by the missing girls. It definitely sounded human, no other animal could make that sound and she knew her animals.

"Yeah, let's check it out," The pair set off in the direction that the noise had come from, Sam listening out carefully while Matt radioed in with the Rangers.

Every twenty minutes or so, the Rangers informed them very seriously to give their location, status and any sightings of the girls. If she was honest, Sam was extremely stunned that they'd allowed a group of teenagers to wonder off by themselves into the Pines after two had gone missing.

The Rangers had informed them that their staff was low at the moment as hardly any incidents like this every happened up on the Mountain, so they apparently didn't deem it necessary to hire more people just in case.

"I told them about the noise. Apparently Em and Mike heard the noise too, so they're sending down a medic and an officer," Matt's voice jarred her from her thoughts, eyes never straying far from in front of her.

"It's one of them, I know it," Matt's voice had a determined edge to it, making Sam nod her head equally as strongly.

"It has to be," She replied as they came to the start of a river. The rush of the waves against the rocks was making it hard for them to hear any more indication of noise. Now they'd just have to rely on their eyesight.

As the trees began to clear, she swear that she saw someone approaching the river bed ahead. Sam picked up the pace in her trek, Matt copying her movements shortly afterwards, obviously having seen the figure as well. Stampeding across the snowy ground, various twigs and branches cracked below her feet.

The only thing she could about was rescuing one of the girls, knowing that it would make people feel far more optimistic about the situation. However as they reached the clearing, there was no one. Beside her Matt sighed in defeat.

"She could be around here still, Matt," Sam informed, not wanting her friend to give up so easily.

"Yeah, sorry, I just...," There was a pause in his speech, she glanced at him, finding that his eyes had widened considerably.

"What?" Sam pressed, trying to view what he was gawking at. Sure enough, she realised what it was. A trail of blood that began at the right treeline travelled all the way to the river bed. What made her more distressed was the amount of the crimson substance that blemished the snow.

"Shit, she must have really hurt herself," Sam muttered, beginning to follow the trail of blood that led to the water.

"No kidding," The trail took a sharp right, towards a deeper part of the forest that made Sam feel uneasy.

"Matt, I think we should be a bit more careful, we must of spooked her," She proposed as he made his way towards the pines, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I do- oof!" Unexpectedly, Matt tumbled backwards, having being assaulted by an unknown force that Sam couldn't quite make out. As he fell flat on his ass, the figure emerged from behind a tree, causing Sam to kick herself into action.

Along the way, she studied the dishevelled figure as they raised their weapon above their head. Doing so meant that Sam caught a glimpse of the burn marks that were imprinted on the bearing stomach and the entire right forearm.

"Jay!" Sam yelled, flinging her hand out in desperate attempt to decrease the harm having already been done to Matt.

It was them when everything came to a stand still. The only indication of the world still moving was the rushing of water and the wind tousling their hair. Matt could only gawk up at Jayden in what seemed to be horror.

"Jay," Sam tried again, this time far more gentler and warm. Her friend's deep brown eyes flickered over to her, arms above her head quivering like mad. Sam could see the conflict and bafflement embedded in her eyes, her dirted eyebrows creasing together. While Jayden processed what was happening, Sam observed the state she was in.

Her normally straight locks were frazzled, various sticks and leaves littering it. Cuts and bruises were scattered across her face, journeying down into her torn plaid shirt. Jayden's ankle was sticking out in an odd angle, making Sam question how she had managed to make it so far.

Overall, she appeared like she'd been through hell and back. Something caught Sam's eye when Jayden rotated slightly, baring her back. She brought a hand up to her mouth as she gaped at the four lengthy deep slashes that dragged down to the tip of her hips. Knowing that Jayden was probably on the verge of bleeding out, Sam decided to make her move.

"Jay," She tried again, this time approaching her friend steadily while Matt backed up, planning to clamber back onto his feet. As Sam extended her hand out, Jayden flinched back violently, relocated her weapon to point at Sam, as though she was warding her back.

"S-stay back!" She yelled, eyes bugging out of their sockets, clearly terrified.

"Stay back," Came a vulnerable murmur.

Sam's eyes filled with salty tears, unable to comprehend the state Jayden was in. Whatever had caused her to act like this, it must have been jarring psychologically. Matt tried to push Sam back for protection but she only shrugged him off, wanting to help her deranged friend more than anything. This time, Sam raised her hands in the air, palms spread open wide.

"I'm not going to hurt you. It's me, it's Sam," She spoke in a soothing tone, the same one she would use whenever Jayden became upset about something. It seemed to have an effect for Jayden began to lower her weapon, whole form visibly shivering now.

"S-sam?" The blonde paused in her path as a blood caked hand reached towards her face tentatively. There was disbelief in her eyes as if Sam was just a figment of her imagination, which made her feel even more melancholy about the whole situation.

"Are you real?" Her voice was barely a whisper as she brushed her fingertips across Sam's cheek in a feather touch. Sam gingerly cupped Jayden's cheek, her thumb lines across it.

"I'm real and I'm not going anywhere, pinky promise," A strangled sob left her lips before her head fell onto Sam's shoulder. Comfortingly, Sam stroked her hair, mumbling kind words in her ear in order to keep her awake while they waited for the Rangers to come.

One down, two more to find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh thank you for the kudos I'm so !!!!!! I hope you guys are enjoying it so far!!


	3. Numb

If there was one word to describe Jayden at the moment was numb. **  
**

**Jayden  
** **Hospital  
** **15:56**

Every day and every night that she remained stuck to a hospital bed, IV needle in her arm as she stared at the yellow tinted wall unblinkingly. It was hard for her to do much, sometimes it was even difficult to lift her hand by an inch.

The extrusion that she had through in those past three days had weakened her significantly, losing a lot of her blood had taken it's toll on her. They'd had use many blood transplants to maintain what was lost. Most of the time, she was drinking out of straw to get her daily nutrients whenever Emily wasn't there to help her eat.

There were heavy black bags under her eyes, having received no sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes all she saw was the monster or the Washington twins morphing into one, coming to kill her for not being able to save them.

Apparently, the doctor's weren't allowing her to have sleeping drugs in fear that she could go into a coma or something along those lines, she wasn't really listening. Only picking up certain words someone was saying on the occasion, if she ever found herself bored with gazing at the wall.

All she wanted to do was block out all the noise. When it became too much she smashed her hands against her ears in a desperate attempt to stop it. She hated the constant beeping of the IV machine, the voices of her friends trying to comfort her and the click of the door opening or closing.

Silence was what she wanted, just nothingness. Noise reminded her of what happened. And she would give anything to be able to forget about it. Falling into a dreamless sleep forever definitely sounded appealing to her. Or maybe the monster coming to finish her off was better.

Two weeks ago, she could vaguely remembered how she had anguished she had been to be found and taken away from that god awful mountain. It was ridiculous how she drove herself to survival really.

Jayden tried to suppress the memories of the mountain to the back of her mind before she divulged deeper and experience the incident. Yet they were slowly beginning to leak back into her thoughts. Matters only went more downhill then as the door to her left clicked open gently. Jayden flinched, the heartbeat monitor beeping like crazy, clearly showing her edginess.

A woman with bleached blonde hair entered the room, a caring expression etched onto her face.

Jayden squinted, trying to figure out who this woman was. If she could barely recall she was someone who came into her room regularly and always had a needle or a bottle of pills in hand.

Penelope something? Or was it Polly? Jayden didn't know, she never really paid any attention.

"Hey, honey," The nurse strolled over, this time nothing medical in her hands instead they were hidden behind her back. This caused Jayden to clench her fists together, nails digging into her skin to hide her trembling hands. To which she didn't understand why they were at all.

Why was she so anxious all of a sudden? Surely whatever was behind her back could end her misery and senselessness, which was all she wanted. Right?

Something gentle pressing against her shoulder jolted her out of her stupor, eyes blinking in perplexment. Slowly they traveled to the unnamed woman, who had her seriously plucked eyebrows drawn up in concern.

"Jayden, are you okay?"

 _Define okay,_ a voice whispered at the back of her mind but it was gone before she had the chance to explore further.

"Why…" She began, her voice coming out hoarse and strained for being quite tight lipped for the past two weeks. She cleared her throat, licking her lips afterwards.

"Are you here to put me to sleep?" Jayden wondered, a hint of hope leaking into her tone. The nurse moved away from her, seemingly startled by Jayden speaking and by her words.

"N-no, sweetie, I thought I'd tell you that the police are here," Puzzlement filled her almost instantly. What did the police want to do with her? She hadn't done anything to cause serious harm to the country had she? Her eyebrows twitched together, projecting the bafflement that she felt.

"They're here about the incident," Jayden stiffened at the mention of the incident.

Her eyes fell back to the wall that she loved to intensely stare at as the numbness washed over her again. In her mind she tried suppress the images, certainly not wanting to relive it all again. There was a sigh that extended from beside her all the way to the door.

In her field of hearing she could hear the nurse's muffled speech to whoever was waiting at the door. The next voice that came sounded male, frustration clear in his tone. Whoever he was, he didn't seem to be a kind man at all, like he could snap at any moment.

A dangerous mix for a person who was meant to be a calm and respected police officer. She supposed that it was a stressful job, especially in the case of two missing girls who were well known for being the daughters of Bob Washington, one of the most famous horror movie directors in Hollywood.

Celebrities always pressured the police into solving their cases over the average people, not wanting legal issues to tarnish their perfect world. In passing, she could remember Chris informing her that Bob Washington's newest movie was being put through a lot of strain because of the disappearance of his two daughters.

It could even be cancelled all together if the girls weren't found within the next month. The Washingtons didn't need more stress than they already were being put through.

Unexpectedly, there was a loud protest followed by the slamming of the door.

While this all happened, Jayden had already pressed back to the headboard as squashed as she could manage with her broken ankle. Her back wounds throbbed in agony of the strain it was being put through, still not quite fully healed yet.

"Miss Weber," Her eyes snapped over to the owner of the voice, her skin crawling instantly.

His skin was tanned, with a crooked nose, much like hers. Hair littered the bottom half of his face, dark brown hair reaching down to the bottom of his chin. Yet really put her on edge was his icy blue eyes that seemed to pierce into her skin and could see everything that was plaguing her mind.

Not wanting to stare at his face any longer, her eyes fell down to his hand, where a set a cuffs were dangling. They jingled as he approached her, which only succeeded in making her anxiety rise.

"I'm only here to ask you a few question, Miss Weber," He came to sit down on the other end of her bed, the handcuffs being thrown onto the bed discarded beside him. Though it didn't calm her violent nerves. It was only when a hand moved in her direction did she find her voice again.

"D-don't touch me," She snapped, a little more ferocious than she meant and she certainly didn't want this man to become mad at her. Something gloomy flashed across his eyes briefly but it was gone before she had a chance to analyse further.

"Right. Sorry, forgot you went through such a traumatic experience," Her left eye twitched at the sarcastic edge to his tone, her dislike for the man only deepening. Not that she wanted any pity of course, he just seemed utterly insensitive about the incident at the mountain as a whole.

"So tell me," He began with a bored tone, pulling a pen and paper pad out of his pocket.

"Where were you before Hannah and Beth ran outside of the safety of the lodge?" He questioned, peering at her intently. One of the only real emotions she'd felt washed over her.

Guilt.

"I went out for a smoke,"

Guilt

"So you weren't involved in the prank?"

She could have done something more. She could have stopped it. She could have tried harder.

"N-no, I don't even know what happened," The last part was hushed, not wanting him to hear her last few words, to be able to see her vulnerability.

"Well, it was the prank the drove her out of the lodge," The shame that had been coursing through her veins boiled down into mild ire.

It wasn't as strong yet but if she saw anyone of the people involved, she was going to explode. In fact, it would only get worse if she saw Emily. Time and time again, she'd told her best friend that all this pranking on Hannah would end badly the moment she started a year and a half ago.

Now look at where they are. Jayden'd been stuck in this suffocating hospital for two weeks, her injuries still having not fully healed. Two sweet and innocent girls were still missing up in that creepy mountain. How awful everything had gone so swiftly.

"Miss Weber, where were you when Hannah ran out of the lodge?" Her fury was buried momentarily as her throat closed up, becoming dry. She didn't want to remember, he couldn't make her it wasn't fair. Jayden knew that if the memories broke through it's prison, she could only experience the incident all over again.

"Jayden I need you to answer me," His voice came out in a growl, vexation seeping into his tone as he leaned in her direction.

His hands came to rest on her sins, his facial expression growing more sinister. Jayden instantly recoiled, her reflexes making her kick his arms away using her good foot.

The glower he gave made her start to hyperventilate. All she knew that he was going to hurt her.

He had clearly been sent by the monster to tie up loose ends. The still unnamed man went to open his mouth but Jayden didn't want to hear the screech that would most likely escape past his lips

Instantaneously, she rammed the palm of her hands over her ears, eyelids squeezing shut. Jayden pressed her hands closer to her head, producing a high pitched ringing in her ears.

With a quaking form, she awaited the inevitable blow of nails slicing her to pieces.

Yet there wasn't anything. No agony. No shriek.

Only silence.

Even the ringing noise had vanished, leaving her perplexed. Carefully, Jayden opened her eyelid by an inch to take in what had happened.

What she saw only made both flutter fully wide. Before her was a freakingly familiar row of trees around her. Rotating her head to and fro, she found that they had circled around her, as if keeping her trapped and preventing her from going anywhere else.

As she breathed miniature puffs of icy air drifted past her lips, shortly evaporating away. What she found to be the most daunting part of this scenery was how... still it all was.

There was no swaying of the trees caused by the wind and the snowflakes were stuck in mid air. Tentatively, she reached out a gloved hand towards it, somewhat fearful of what would happen if she touched it.

Nonetheless, she ignored her doubts, tapping the snowflake with her pointed index finger.

Unexpectedly, a dark haired figure zoomed past her left arms clutched around their chest. Another similar person raced after the first one, a light grey beanie placed upon their head.

The two soon became lost into the murkiness that lay behind the prison bars of trees. Jayden felt her lips moving, yet no words came out, just silence.

Despite the fact there was the absence of words in the she could quite make out her lips saying 'Hannah!' and 'Beth!'

Then the wail came.

She jolted in her position, the hairs all over her body standing on ends. It came again, this time from behind her.

Her head snapped to the side, deep eyes searching for the creature wildly. However, she found no bony lanky form anywhere and that made her more on edge than anything.

For all she knew it was climbing up a tree, building up more power for the killing blow. When she turned her head back to the front, Jayden let out her own whimper.

It's sickly stretched face was almost touching her own. Sharp rotten teeth glinting in the moonlight with fresh blood dripping off the points. The milky white eyes were staring right into her brown ones. Tension was rising rapidly as the two only gawked at one another. Jayden was conflicted at this moment in time.

Did she stay still in hopes that it would leave? Or did she allow herself to run, potentially risking her life?

It answered her query for it squawked in her face, spit and blood splashing onto her face. So she chose to escape. Hastily, she went to move to the side, only to stumble, falling towards the ground.

A spike of pain shot through her side, the scorching feeling travelling across her body before settling deep into her shoulder and her back. The ire she had been experiencing earlier managed to worm it's way into her system, blocking out the suffering altogether. Quite frankly, she was sick and tired of having the go through all this bullshit.

Even though she understood why she was being put through this endless cycle of torment, it didn't mean that she wanted to have to endure it. Sooner or later she knew that it was going to led her to a bitter end.

Her only wish was that in death, she would no longer have to relive the memories in every waking moment. Peace was all she needed. She would just have to wait until then. Voices from behind her caused her to scramble up onto her ass.

The beast was still in her vision, this time further away from her yet those haunting eyes still followed her every movement. As it began to advance to her, she scurried backwards using the palms of her hands.

For the next few seconds she slid across the floor with ease, which was odd considering she was in the middle of the forest. Jayden's back hit something cold and tough, informing her that she'd reached a dead end.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," She murmured, scrunching her eyes shut. Her knees came to be pushed up against her chest, burying her head in between before her arms criss-crossed over them in hopes to hide herself. Now, she just sat in a fetal position, hoping that someone could just save her.

* * *

Heels clanked on the stainless white tiles in a rhythmic pattern, its beat echoing in empty hallway.

 **Emily**  
Hospital  
16:17

In her manicured hands, she held two steaming cups of hot chocolate. Emily made sure to put marshmallows and cream in Jayden's one, it was her favourite afterall. Plus she hoped that she would actually disgust something instead of just staring at her food blandly. It frightened her how much her best friend was slowly but surely wasting away.

Honestly, Emily wasn't sure how she'd handle someone who was pretty much her sister, the one constant in her life, leaving her. Even though she had been an extremely perfect actress when Jayden had gone missing, she was a mess inside.

On the first day her demeanor had begun fray and by the third day, she was barely hanging on by a thread. She'd received no sleep, only surviving on black coffee, staying up to hear any news. Sam had been the most supportive when concerning Jayden's lost state back on the Mountain.

Emily found it admirable, considering that Sam was also in quite a lot of stress over the situation. Her best friends and the girl that she was clearly in love with, (Emily knew it when she saw it), had vanished, unknown when they would be returning. If they hadn't had found her when they did, Emily would have lost it.

The moment she'd laid eyes upon Jayden's state, she'd been furious. It was safe to say that her crankiness didn't help either. She lashed out on Mike at first but her wrath soon fell to Jess, unfortunately.

This stupid prank was all her fault anyways, not hers. It was Jess' idea that had meant that two of their friends had gone missing, not hers. She'd only been a participant like Ashley and Matt had been. This time she wouldn't let herself be seen as the bitch in the situation. That all fell to Jess, who had gone home immediately after the fight, no one was in contact with her since.

 _Good riddance,_ she mused, a prideful smirk worming its way onto her face.

Another good thing that came out of Jess leaving was that she would hopefully have more time to spend with Jayden and help her get through the trauma she'd had to endure. Her inner thoughts were left buried back into her mind as she reached the hospital room Jayden was staying in.

Still finding it quite eerie that the hallways seemed practically abandoned, Emily hastily made her way into the room. However, she was very gentle in how she opened the door, knowing how horrified Jayden would get by the smallest of noises. So she pushed the door open using her shoulder.

"Hey honey, I got you..." She trailed off when she viewed the scene before her. Jayden was nowhere in sight, there was only a freaky, somewhat familiar appearing man glaring at her. Given any other circumstances, she would have found him extremely hot yet the cruelty that was embedded in his eyes made her vexation rise.

"Excuse me? But who the fuck are you and why are you in here? Where's Jay?" Emily wandered further into the room, not so gingerly placing the cups down on the bedside table.

While she awaited his response, she positioned herself so that her hands were on her cocked hips, eyebrows raised. She saw him glance over his shoulder briefly before his gaze returned.

"None of your business girl," His raspy baritone voice sent shivers down her spine and not in the appealing sort of way.

He hurriedly collected things off of the bed then ambled his way towards her. Emily prepared herself to kick him in the dick if need be. Yet that didn't happen for he brushed past her, barely even touching her. As she caught a waft of his cologne, the familiarity of who he was clicked.

"You could get sacked for this you know," Her words caused him to halt in his wake and she could see his back tensing by the crinkling of his suit jacket.

"It should be my nieces in this hospital, not some orphan," The latter word sent her blood boiling.

How dare he? Sure he may be the twin's uncle but that didn't excuse his behaviour. In all honesty, he didn't deserve them being found at all. However, there was no chance for her to send profanities his way because he was gone from the doorway.

"Whatever," She mumbled, rolling her eyes in irritation.

Emily hoped that she didn't have to see that asshole again or she'd really give him a piece of her mind, regardless of the consequences. For now, she saved that thought for another time, her main focus was to locate her missing friend.

A subdued snivel emitted from the door leading to the bathroom, causing Emily to rush over instantly. At this moment, she was reminded of those nights when Jayden's mom had vanished for good and she had gone to with Emily and her family, having nowhere else to go. That was the last time Jayden had ever cried over anything, a spill of water travelling down her cheek non-existent up until this moment.

Tenderly, Emily rapped her knuckles against the door to announce her presence.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," The dread in Jayden's tone make her eyebrows furrow together.

She sure as hell was going to report this guy, if he was acting unprofessional like this he should be fired, regardless of who his family was. Realising that she was going to receive no reply, Emily clasped the door handle, swinging the door open.

"Oh, Jay," She mumbled as she observed the fetal position she had curled up into, rocking back and forth. Carefully, Emily lowered herself down to the floor so that she could rest onto her knees. Once she had done that, Emily extended a confident hand out, knowing full well that Jayden would be absolutely fine with her.

Only she couldn't be more wrong.

"Jay," She uttered, more forcefully this time, wanting her friend's attention. Jayden's head shot up at that, eyelid blinking rapidly, as if trying to clear her vision. For the next few seconds, the damaged girl only gaped at Emily with empty eyes, in turn creeping her out considerably.

"Jayden, stop it, it's not fucking cool," She removed her hand from Jayden's kneecap, coming to cross them against her chest. Whatever Jayden was trying to do, it was working well. One second her friend's face had been desolate and dull and within the next it contorted into pure wrath. Emily to gulped, never seeing Jayden so furious before. It was true that the girl would get quite frustrated at times but to this extent was brand new.

"What have I told you about those stupid fucking pranks on Hannah, Emily?" The biting to her words made Emily jump back to her feet with bafflement, fright and her own ire washing over her.

"Excuse me?" Truly lost as to where this had all come from. As the two weeks had passed, Jayden would only be able to say one or two words, now she was speaking a whole sentence.

"I've always told you time and time again," Jayden began, rising to her feet as well but the leisurely pace in which she was doing so made Emily worry. Briefly glancing away from her face, she noticed that fresh blood was travelling down her brunt scarred arm.

"Jay, you're bleed-"

"But you never fucking listen! You never have! Always wanting to do it Emily's perfect little way so that it can make princess Emily happy," Emily's vexation was taking over her system at the mocking tone etched into Jayden's voice. Right now, Emily didn't care if Jayden wasn't 'herself' she wasn't about to stand here and take this.

"Fuck you bitch! I only did it because you were always ignoring me. You were always busy making pathetic puppy dog eyes at Sam!" The pent up emotions Emily had been containing for a while were starting to spill out and she didn't think she was able to suck it all back in. Jayden let out a bark of sarcastic mirth, now standing over Emily, despite the latter even wearing high heels.

"Oh yes because all of this is my fault. Newsflash! Two people are missing because of what you did and I almost died trying to fix your mistake. It's all on you! Hannah and Beth are probably never going to return and-" The sound of skin meeting skin resonated across the pristine bathroom walls, everything falling into a tense silence soon afterwards.

The blinding rage that Emily had been feeling moments ago died, hands coming to cover the bottom half of her face as a gasp erupted from her. The majority of Jayden's face was covered by the swept hair and her hand hiding the reddening mark on her cheek. Regret took over strongly, knowing that she had let her feelings get the better of her. Before she even had a chance to apologize for what she had done, Jayden's head began to turn back towards Emily.

"Get out," Her voice was so hushed that Emily almost missed what she had muttered.

"Jay-"

"Get out!" Jayden all by bellowed in her face, causing Emily to reel back. Not wanting her friend to physically attack her, she stumbled backwards, twisting around to be able to rush in the direction of the door.

What she found was a nurse gawking at Emily, something akin to displeasure written on every line on her face. Emily didn't even say a word as she bumped past the woman, humiliation taking hold as she knew that the nurse had mostly heard every words.

There was no way she could face anyone now. In fact it would probably take her awhile to even show her face around here again. Besides, Jayden's words still stung, like needles pricking into her mind, it would take her time to recover. Without thinking about the argument much further, Emily hastily made her way out of the hospital.

* * *

The rumbling in her stomach caused her heavy eyelids to flutter open though it was extremely hard for her to do so.

**Hannah  
** **Mines  
** **3:28**

A peaceful sleep was all she wished for, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Yet the dream of her sister's last breath leaving her, once twinkling eyes gazing up at the bleak staggered rocks above, plagued her in every waking moment. Her gaze flickered towards the grave entitled  **'BETH'** in scrawled writing, a feet and an arm sticking out of the dirt sickenly.

A fresh tear falling past her eyelid, cleaning her dirted and bruised cheek as it journeyed downwards. Hannah missed her little sister with all her heart, she was barely hanging on without her. What she would do to reverse time and be able to go back to the lodge again, curled up in her brother's or her sister's arms by the fire.

God, she had been so foolish sprinting off into the middle of a storm on top of a mountain, where there would be no one to save her. She just wasn't thinking straight. Her friends had betrayed her by using her adoration for Mike against her. She couldn't be blamed for it, he was also so sweet towards to her.

The gut-wrenching realisation hit her, making another salty tear drip down. He'd - he'd just done that so it gave Emily an excuse to direct her harsh behaviour towards her and it led Hannah on. She was such an idiot, how could she have not seen this futhur?

In all fairness, Sam, Jayden and Beth had informed her many times that Mike didn't meant it, that it was all a childish joke. And she didn't listen. Look at where that got her. Hannah was stuck down in some horrifying caves with a dead sister and broken leg.

What must her friends think of her? Where they out searching for her? Or had they left her all alone because of her mistake? To her, it truly felt like latter. With every passing day, her hopes of being found dwindled and she grew increasingly more famished.

Her eyes would fall to the makeshift grave belonging to her sister, mouth salivating and stomach grumbling even more. She felt as though something was pushing into her to grasp the obvious food opportunity. It made her feel sick, yet she just couldn't quite help it. Rather unexpectedly, the sound of voices echoing off the wall momentarily distracted her from her starvation.

"Victor, we need to-" A bell like feminine voice came first but was cut off quite quickly.

"No, we don't. You still need to recover from your injuries, you shouldn't be walking around," This one, Victor, had a gruff edge to his voice, yet she could quite make an undertone of caring protectiveness underneath. Two silhouettes grew on a moonlight stained rock, both holding some kind of weapon.

"Yes we do, for all we know, one of these girls could turn to into a fucking Wendigo as we speak!" Victor snorted, clearly finding the woman's words hilarious despite their seriousness.

"Kanti, you should have seen how far they fell. There's no way they're both still alive," The reasoning he was giving the woman made Hannah want to call for help, to tell them that she was alive. Yet her throat was too dry and she just couldn't find the energy to do so.

There was a sigh of defeat from the woman, which crushed Hannah's ambition of being found completely. From that point onwards, Hannah blocked out any noise, her eyes finding their way back to the grave. If they weren't going to help her, she was going to have to find the strength to do so herself.

_I'm so sorry Beth_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also feel like this chapter isn't my best chapter so far, my weeks been shit so idk ahhhh just mainly wanted to give some insight to Jayden and Emily's friendship and how the former's been coping thus far. 
> 
> But any guesses to the last part ;))) i've got quite the few tricks up my sleeve for this story

**Author's Note:**

> Yooooo, I hoped you liked the start of this!!! I’m super nervous about posting this because it’s my first time doing anything like this lmao. If I’ve made any mistakes about things please let me know. But yeah, i’ve gotten into Until Dawn the moment it came out and I thought I’d give Sam some love tbh, so here it is. Thank you guys!!  
> Also I hope you like Jayden and she doesn’t appear to be a mary-sue in anyway!! (Her face claim is Devery Jacobs)  
> Next chapter will probably be up in a few days, maybe Tuesday??


End file.
